1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a coin payout device which stores many disc-like media such as coins, medals (hereinafter, these disc-like media are called as “coins”) and pays out coins one by one.
2. Description of Related Art
As the coin payout device mentioned above, for example as shown in Japanese Unexamined Publication No. 7-85333, it is known a coin payout device which is installed inside of a slot machine and pays out a predetermined number of coins to a coin tray provided at a prayer's side of the slot machine according to a winning combination won in a game. Generally, the coin payout device installed in the slot machine is basically constructed from a payout unit including a rotation plate (coin disc) in which a plurality of coin openings are formed along a circumference thereof, a drive motor for driving the rotation plate, a control circuit board for controlling rotation of the drive motor and a connector for supplying electric power to the drive motor and for transmitting a control signal to the control circuit board, the payout unit being assembled on a base, as shown in Japanese Unexamined Publication No. 7-85333. And a bucket for storing many coins is attached on the base support.
Further, generally speaking, in a game arcade that many slot machines mentioned above are adjacently arranged with each other, the coin payout device which pays out coins by inserting a bill or a prepaid card is arranged between the slot machines. In this case, the coin payout device is assembled inside of the device (this type of device is called “sandwitched device”) arranged between the adjacent slot machines, and such coin payout device pays out a predetermined number of coins corresponding to demand of the prayer.
Here, as mentioned, there are two types of the coin payout devices, one type of which is assembled inside of the slot machine and the other type of which is assembled inside of the above “sandwiched device”. And since there exists space restriction when the outer device is attached to the slot machine, the coin payout device assembled inside of the slot machine and the coin payout device assembled in the “sandwitched device” have to be differently constructed because the space restriction in both the slot machine and the “sandwiched device” is very different with each other. That is to say, in particular, influence of the space restriction remarkably appears in the bucket portion for storing many coins. Concretely, the coin payout device for the slot machine has a shape that the height becomes low and both the width and the depth become wide, and on the contrary, the coin payout device for the “sandwitched device” has a shape that the height becomes high and both the width and the depth become narrow. Further, similarly in the coin disc, it can be utilized a disc plate with a large diameter (in which eight coin openings are formed) as the coin disc in the coin payout device for the slot machine, and on the contrary, it is necessary to utilize a disc plate with a small diameter (in which four coin openings are formed) as the coin disc in the coin payout device for the “sandwitched device”. Namely, both the coin payout devices are exclusively designed with each other considering the specific situation of the device in which the coin payout devices are installed respectively. Therefore, there is no consideration to commonly use the parts in both two types of the above coin payout devices, as a result, there exists a problem that increase in cost of the coin payout device cannot be avoided.
And taking the above situation into consideration, it is desirable to consider assembly convenience and general purpose such that the coin payout device can be assembled in not only the slot machine but also the other device (for example, the “sandwitched device” arranged between the slot machines).